Resovia (volleyball)


Resovia, officially known as Asseco Resovia SA for sponsorship reasons is a Polish professional men's volleyball team based in Rzeszów, founded in 1937. The team has been playing in the top level Polish Volleyball League, PlusLiga continuously since 2004. Seven–time Polish Champion and three–time Polish Cup winner.

Achievements

on 9 February 2007.
in the 2009–10 CEV Champions League season.
in PlusLiga playoffs in 2010.
during the match on 23 September 2011.
and Grzegorz Kosok during the time—out on 25 September 2011.
season.
after winning the Polish Championship in 2012.
season.

Team history

Resovia was established in 1937 in the city of Rzeszów. Until 2006 it used to be one of the departments of CWKS Resovia until its takeover by the company Asseco. The name Resovia is derived from the Latin, meaning Rzeszów, what has been confirmed by the city council in 2013. In 1969, the club advanced to the 1st Polish Volleyball League playing there until 1991.
The 1970s were the most successful in the club's long history. During that time Resovia led by Jan Strzelczyk and Władyslaw Pałaszewski achieved its biggest successes, winning four Polish Championships, one Polish Cup, a silver medal of the 1972–73 CEV Champions League and a bronze medal of the 1973–74 CEV Cup. The team of that time consisted of such players like Bronisław Bebel, Stanisław Gościniak, Marek Karbarz or Włodzimierz Stefański, who played a major role in the Polish national volleyball team leading Poland to the titles of 1976 Olympic Champions, 1974 World Champions and silver medallists of the 1977 European Championship. In the next years the team also managed to win 2 Polish Cups in 1983 and 1987 before being relegated in 1991.
After being relegated in 1991 the club spent over a decade in the 2nd Polish Volleyball League. In 2004 the team led by the former Resovia player – Jan Such was promoted to the newly created professional volleyball league. Its first season in the top league Resovia ended in 7th place, achieving higher positions in the next years. During the 2007–08 season Resovia led by Andrzej Kowal took part in the CEV Challenge Cup losing both the semifinal against Modena Volley and a match for third place against the French team Stade Poitevin Poitiers. Eventually, in 2009 Resovia led by the Serbian expert Ljubomir Travica ended the season in 2nd place and gained the right to play in the next CEV Champions League edition where they lost a two game playoffs against Trentino Volley, the future competition champion. The 2009–10 PlusLiga season Resovia ended in 3rd place.
In the 2010–11 PlusLiga season Resovia reached the semifinals of the 2010–11 CEV Cup and lost two matches against the Italian team Sisley Treviso . The 2010–11 PlusLiga season Resovia for the second time in the row ended in 3rd place. After the season Ljubomir Travica left the team and a Polish coach Andrzej Kowal took over the team for the next 6 seasons. The next year due to the 3rd place last PlusLiga season Resovia once again spent playing in the CEV Cup, but for this time managed to reach the final and after tough fighting against the Russian team Dynamo Moscow lost and was awarded with the silver medals. On the other hand, after 7 years of the PGE Skra Bełchatów dominance in the Polish league Resovia achieved its 5th title of the Polish Champion beating Skra in four matches .
In the 2012–13 PlusLiga season Resovia as a reigning Polish Champion was once again granted the right to compete in the upcoming 2012–13 CEV Champions League edition. The club ended in 2nd place in the league round and was eventually stopped by the Italian team Lube Banca Marche Macerata in the Playoff 12. However, Resovia ended the season with another, 6th title of the Polish Champion beating ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle after five matches. In the next 2013–14 CEV Champions League edition, after achieving first place in the league round and beating the Belgian team Knack Roeselare in the playoff stage Resovia has been defeated by another Polish club in the competition – Jastrzębski Węgiel. In the domestic competition PGE Skra Bełchatów regained the Polish Champion title defeating Resovia in 3 matches.
During the 2014–15 PlusLiga season Resovia was playing in the 2014–15 CEV Champions League. The club beat the Russian club Lokomotiv Novosibirsk and lost in revenge match in Rzeszów on 11 March 2015. Resovia reached the Final Four, which was held in Berlin, Germany and played with another Polish team – PGE Skra Bełchatów and for the first time in the competition's history two Polish teams played in the semifinal of the CEV Champions League. On 28 March 2015 Resovia beat PGE Skra Bełchatów in the semifinal and eventually lost in final to Zenit Kazan. On 28 April 2015 Resovia won its 7th title of the Polish Champion.
On 16–17 April 2016 Resovia was a host of the 2015–16 CEV Champions League Final Four held in Tauron Arena Kraków. The team lost the semifinal to Zenit Kazan and a match for third place to Cucine Lube Civitanova and ended the tournament in 4th place. Russell Holmes received an individual award for the Best Middle Blocker of the tournament. During the 2015–16 PlusLiga season, Resovia took second place in the regular season because of the better set ratio than PGE Skra Bełchatów. In the final, ZAKSA Kędzierzyn-Koźle beat Resovia in three matches.
From 2016 to 2020 the club failed to achieve any significant success ending the 2016–17 PlusLiga season in 4th place and losing the quartefinal of the Polish Cup to LOTOS Trefl Gdańsk. In the 2016–17 CEV Champions League season the team ended in 3rd place in the league round and as one of the three third-placed teams was promoted to the next stage. Resovia was not able to defeat the Italian team Modena Volley and has been eliminated in the Playoff 12. By the end of the 2016–17 PlusLiga season Andrzej Kowal announced his departure as the Resovia head coach. Roberto Serniotti has been announced as the new Resovia head coach on 11 May 2017.
After achieving 4th place in the previous PlusLiga season Resovia took part in the 2017–18 CEV Cup reaching the semifinals and eventually losing to the Russian team Belogorie Belgorod. In the domestic league Resovia achieved 6th place losing in three matches of the first round of the playoffs to Indykpol AZS Olsztyn. On 3 December 2017 an Italian expert Roberto Serniotti was dismissed as a head coach after spending only a few months in the club. He has been replaced by Andrzej Kowal who returned to his post after a short break.
At the beginning of the 2018–19 PlusLiga season Resovia lost 4 matches in the row what resulted in dismissal of both Andrzej Kowal and the club's chairman – Bartosz Górski. The club decided to employ the Romanian expert Gheorghe Crețu and the former Resovia player – Krzysztof Ignaczak as the club's new chairman. Nevertheless, the team did not manage to qualify to the playoff stage and eventually ended the season in 7th place. In the same season Resovia took part in the 2018 FIVB Club World Championship held in Poland, surprisingly defeating the Brazilian team Sada Cruzeiro in the preliminary round and qualifying to the semifinals. In the semifinals the team from Rzeszów has been defeated by the Italian team Cucine Lube Civitanova in 4 sets and ended the tournament in 4th place losing a match for third place to the Russian team Fakel Novy Urengoy. The contract with Gheorghe Crețu was not renewed and on 9 May 2020 Piotr Gruszka has been anounced as the new Resovia head coach.
The 2019–20 PlusLiga season can be named the worst in the club's history. The team led by Piotr Gruszka and Italian coach Emanuele Zanini ended the season in 13th place, winning only 7 out of 24 matches and barely avoiding relegation. Krzysztof Ignaczak resigned his post as the club's chairman on 14 February 2020 and has been replaced by Piotr Maciąg. Emanuele Zanini remained the head coach of the team until the end of the season. On 8 April 2020 an Italian expert Alberto Giuliani was announced as the new Resovia head coach.
Since the beginning of the 21st century the team has won three Polish Championships, one Polish SuperCup and managed to reach the final of both the 2014–15 CEV Champions League and 2011–12 CEV Cup.

Team – 2020/2021">2020–21 PlusLiga">2020/2021

Coaching staff

Players

No.NameDate of birthPosition
1 Bartłomiej Krulickimiddle blocker
4 Grzegorz Kosokmiddle blocker
9 Nicolas Szerszeńoutside hitter
10 Damian Domagałaopposite
11 Fabian Drzyzgasetter
12 Paweł Woickisetter
13 Michał Poteralibero
14 Rafał Buszekoutside hitter
15 Jeffrey Jendrykmiddle blocker
16 Piotr Hainmiddle blocker
18 Klemen ÄŒebuljoutside hitter
21 Karol Butrynopposite
23 Bartosz Mariańskilibero
24 Robert Tähtoutside hitter
48 Timo Tammemaamiddle blocker